A Russian cosplayer who appeared on the Japanese TV programme You wa nani shi ni nippon e? (What did you come to Japan to do?), which interviews foreigners coming to Japan at the airport, has recently taken Japanese social media by storm, winning countless fans.

The cosplayer, who goes by the name Saya Scarlet, was stopped at the airport on her way to this year’s Magical Mirai, a concert and exhibition celebrating everything Hatsune Miku.

She told the camera crew (via the magic of a Russian to English translation app) that as “the administrator” of the largest Hatsune Miku fan club, she was hoping to take photos and video to raise Hatsune Miku’s profile in her native Russia, where she also hoped to organise a Hatsune Miku concert one day.

▼ Saya Scarlet performs as Hatsune Miku in alternative
music videos, here in the song “Senbonzakura…”

▼ …and here in “Ievan Polkka.”

Despite not speaking much Japanese, she managed to sing one of Hatsune Miku’s songs with near-perfect pronunciation. Her infectious laugh and quirky mannerisms also had viewers swooning over the vocaloid (whose contribution to music is required reading in school) seemingly come to life.

Japanese social media users seemed smitten with her mix of good looks, mannerisms, and anime character-like ridiculously high-pitched voice.

“Her voice is great!”
“I really like that super-cute Russian!”
“She’s just too cute, I want to marry her!”
“Russia has loads of good-looking people, that’s why their cosplaying is so good!”
“What is she!? That face! That voice! Those actions! Perfect!”
“I think I could be in love….”
“I can’t believe that someone like me is lumped together in the same species as someone like her.”
“It’s decided, I’m definitely going to Russia.”

While the TV programme is often criticised for perpetuating Japanese people’s skewed view of foreigners as Japan-loving oddballs, ignoring the majority of perfectly normal people who come to Japan, surely there won’t be many grumbling at the programme for bringing Saya’s cosplaying to our attention.